MONTREAL – Many people who subscribe to the Vidéotron cable service have noticed how good its French-language MAtv community cable channel is, with its local focus on community and public affairs, including local arts. Montreal hasn’t had a comparable English-language community channel since 1999, when the old CFCF cable channel was closed down by Vidéotron two years after it had bought CFCF.

Now it looks like English-language community TV is on the verge of a comeback. On Sept. 5, Vidéotron applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for a licence to operate an English-language community channel in the greater Montreal area.